No plan B to build a baseball stadium

Wednesday

Nov 7, 2012 at 1:59 PM

After voters reject referendum, stadium seems out of reach

By Julian MarchJulian.March@StarNewsOnline.com

A day after 70 percent of Wilmington voters shot down a proposal to build a taxpayer-funded stadium, city and baseball officials are moving on.Barring extraordinary circumstances that could involve someone wagering a substantial lump of private money, it appears Wilmington won't get a stadium on the Cape Fear River.After the votes were tallied Tuesday night, Mayor Bill Saffo said the city will focus on providing core services. "We will not pursue baseball," he said. From the look of it now, neither will the Atlanta Braves, which would have brought a team to the Port City, or Mandalay Baseball, which would have operated the stadium.With the city out of the game, there's no one else left at the table willing to fund and build a $37 million stadium. On Wednesday, when asked what was next, Rich Neumann, Mandalay's president of baseball development, paused and said, "Nothing."Beth Marshall, a spokeswoman for the Atlanta Braves, said the organization has no plans to pursue a stadium. That marked a retreat from comments Braves Executive Vice President Mike Plant made in September. When asked what would happen if the referendum failed, he said, "We'll roll up our sleeves and see if there's another path."Even before the vote, it was clear that if voters roundly rejected the offer, it would force the city out of the equation. Well before Election Day, Saffo said a failed referendum would end the city's pursuit of a baseball stadium. There were rumblings that, had the final vote showed residents closely split, there could have been more talk. But they weren't. "There is no plan B as far as we're concerned," Neumann said. "We're very disappointed. We still think it was a great opportunity for the city, but the people have spoken. ... Unless somebody locally approaches us with other options, we consider this case closed."Though he left the door to a possible comeback cracked, he did not have specific examples of what could open it. "We've done everything we could do to bring this opportunity to Wilmington and we feel it's over, barring some complete, unforeseen set of circumstances," he said. "We're not working on them or trying to come up with them. It would have to be coming from the local interests here."The city council had been set to vote on a land option agreement for the stadium on Wednesday night, but they voted unanimously to pull it from the agenda. Councilman Kevin O’Grady said it had been rendered moot.Terry Spencer, chairman of the Vote Yes! effort, said Wednesday that the group remained dedicated with a common vision."We would be open to any developments that may occur," he said, though he added, "I am unaware of any."Spencer said the organization is ready to advocate for any opportunities that surface, but it has no specific plans beyond that."We don't know of any investors," he said. "If there were any investors, they would have come out of the woodwork by now."

Julian March: 343-2099On Twitter: @julian_march

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